Field
The invention is in the field of earphones for use with personal audio systems and communication systems.
State of the Art
Personal audio systems enabling a user to listen to the radio, cassette tapes, or compact disks while involved in other activities are very popular. Such systems include headphones or earphones which a user wears over or in his or her ears so that the sound from the system is heard only by the user and does not disturb others. The earphones also usually provide better sound transmission to the listener so the listener can hear and understand the sounds better than if merely transmitted into the air, particularly during movement of the user such as in sport or exercise activities or in noisy environments. Such earphones are also sometimes used in communication systems such as telephone and radio communication systems. For use with such communication systems, the earphones will often have a microphone associated therewith extending toward the user""s mouth so the user can easily participate in hands-off two-way communication.
With all systems using earphones, comfort and convenience of the earphones is important. My U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,736 shows earphones designed for comfortable securement to the ear of a user and particularly for secure carriage on the ear of a user during vigorous activity by the user. While the earphones shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,736 work satisfactorily to hold the earphones on a user""s ear even during vigorous activity by the user and are generally comfortable, such earphones are not as adjustable as desired for some users and are not designed for use with communication systems in that they are not adapted for carrying a microphone.
According to the invention, the speaker and speaker housing of an earphone is mounted to an ear mounting means for both rotational and spatial adjustment with respect to the ear mounting means so that a user can adjust the positioning of the speaker housing for maximum comfort. A microphone arm may be mounted to one of the housings so that earphones may be used in communication systems requiring a microphone and in a preferred embodiment, the microphone arm is mounted for approximately 270 degrees of rotation with respect to the housing so that the earphone with microphone arm can be worn on either the left or the right ear and the microphone arm will extend to the area of a user""s mouth.
The invention provides an elongate boom extending from the speaker housing through a sleeve in the ear mounting means. The boom is frictionally held in the sleeve and can be rotated in the sleeve and slid longitudinally in the sleeve to adjust the orientation and positioning of the speaker with respect to the ear mounting means. In this way, the earphone can be adjusted for a comfortable fit by substantially all users.
While with personal audio systems two earphones, one for each ear, will be provided and used, with communication systems, either a single earphone or two earphones may be used. Where easy two way communication is desired, the single earphone, or one of the two earphones used, will be provided with a microphone arm extending from the speaker housing to hold and position a microphone in operable location near the mouth of a user to enable the microphone to pick up sound emanating from the user""s mouth. It is preferred that the microphone arm be mounted to the speaker housing for about 270 degrees of rotation with respect to the housing so the arm may be rotated and the earphone used on either the right ear or left ear as preferred by the user. The microphone and its mounting may be removable so the earphones may be used either with or without a microphone.
A waterproof or water resistant cover may be installed in the speaker housing over the speaker cover to make the earphone water resistant to prevent rusting or other corrosion of metal parts of the speaker and other possible damage to the speaker from perspiration or other moisture that the earphones may encounter during use or storage.
The earphones of my cited patent required manufacture of the earpiece by molding two earpiece halves, inserting the wire from the speaker in one half and gluing the halves together. According to the present invention, the earpiece is molded as a single piece with a slit extending into the earpiece along the intermediate portion of the length of the earpiece. The wire can then be inserted through the ends of the earpiece into the ends of the slit with, for example, a needle and positioned within the slit between the ends of the earpiece to enclose the wire in the earpiece.